President-for-Life?

My next stop on The Adventures of Bob World Tour is likely to be Ecuador. Such things are always subject to change without notice, but I’ve pretty much decided on moving to Quito early next year, after a visit home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This has caused me to be following Ecuadorian politics rather more than I have at any other point in my life. Which isn’t saying much, since the amount of time I spent thinking about Ecuadorian politics in the years 1947 through 2011 is pretty close to zero. In the past year+, though, I’ve been paying some attention, and let me tell you, it’s not a pretty picture.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you an in-depth report in this post – that will follow, bit by bit, over the coming months – but just as a bit of background, the current president of Ecuador is Rafael Correa, who is now in his third and final term.

Or maybe not.

Only a few months since the election have passed. But Correa's political allies are now proposing a law that would eliminate term limits for Ecuador's president, the same move Chavez took in Venezuela back in 2009. 

This worries Ecuadorians who believe that Correa has already gathered too much power in his hands by building up a state-owned media empire that responds to his interests, going after media critics with multi-million dollar lawsuits, and interfering in the country's judiciary.

More to come …